Crimson Nightmare
by Adriene Alexandra Wayne
Summary: My entry for Simone Robinson's 10 days, 5 Stories challenge. Donatello was always there to fix his brothers up, but this time there is nothing he can do. His worst nightmare and he is helpless to prevent it from becoming reality.
1. Chapter 1

**Paper Cut**

**A/N: Here is chapter/ story one for Simone Robinson's 10 Days, 5 Stories challenge: Enjoy! I hope...**

**~Don't own TMNT..sadly.**

Donatello knew that he would always be the one to patch his brothers up when they needed him to; this was his job and he had always accepted that.

After every altercation with the Foot, he did a once over each of his brothers, forever grateful that most every inspection yielded only a very bruises and small scratches.

Whenever Raphael overworked himself in the dojo in his rage, it was Donatello who would calm the red-masked turtle down and reset his dislocated shoulder.

Whenever Leonardo took an especially brutal attack while protecting his brothers, Donatello would always stitch him up and sternly shoot down any argument Leo presented to take the blame for an unprecedented attack by the Purple Dragons.

Whenever Michelangelo took a spill while ripping up the pipes in the sewers, it was always Donatello who gently bandaged his scrapes.

Shell, if Mikey gave himself a paper cut reading one of his comic books, Donnie would have bandaged that too.

But this time, there was nothing Donatello could do.

This was a nightmare that he had hoped he would never face, but part of him always knew he would.

They were ninjas; danger came with the territory.

Donatello gasped as the events of that night replayed in his head.

"_Catch me if you can, slowpokes!" Mikey called gleefully over his shoulder before jumping to the next rooftop._

"_Oh no you don't, Mikey!" Leo shouted before jumping after the youngest turtle. _

"_You are not gonna beat me, bros!" Raph shouted as he passed Leo._

"_Hey wait up, guys!" Donnie called, vaulting over the gap and joining them._

_Mikey turned back toward his brothers, a cheeky grin lighting up his face. _

"_What's the matter, Raph? You too old to keep up?" _

"_Who you calling old?!" Raph retorted. "Leo is the slow one!" He stated with a smirk._

"_Don't embarrass yourself, Raphael." Leo responded with a laugh."We all know you're the slow one."_

"_Just try to keep up, bro." Raph replied with an evil smile before disappearing onto the next rooftop._

_And just like that it turned into a who's-the-fastest-turtle contest._

_The laughter of three turtles rang out into the night._

_Donatello shook his head and smiled before joining his brothers, no way in shell was he going to be in last place._

"_Once again, Mikey, the Battle Nexus Champion, proves he is the fastest teenaged mutant ninja turtle!" Mike shouted while taking a bow "Goodnight, ladies and gentlemutants!" _

_He was standing on a building near the south side of the city and his brothers had fallen behind a few blocks and he was savoring his victory._

_There was no doubt that he was the fastest of the four turtles._

_He was about to make a snide remark about his brothers' slowness when he saw movement in the corner of his eyes. He retreated to the shadows and pulled out his nunchaku as several dozen Foot ninja stepped out in front of him. _

_They had walked into a trap._

_All of the ninja turned as a feral battle cry rang out into the night. _

_Leonardo jumped onto the rooftop, gleaming katana gripping in each hand. He was joined by Raph, who twirled his sai expertly. Donnie was the last to step onto the building, bo staff in hand with a hard look in his eyes._

"_It's ninja time." Raph stated with a grin._

_It was only a matter of minutes before every last Foot ninja was unconscious or otherwise incapacitated.._

_Donnie breathed a sigh of relief, he was always glad when they made it through a fight with little to no injuries. _

_This fight was over. Or so he thought._

_He felt himself shoved to the ground by strong arms. He looked up as he saw his older brother tried to fight off the last remaining Foot ninja. But it was too late; he had let his guard down and the ninja had gotten in a fatal shot. _

_With a roar, Leonardo knocked the Foot ninja to the ground, this time completely unconscious._

_Mikey gasped as saw Raph stumble and reached out to grab him before he fell._

"_Raph?" He questioned, fear in his wide blue eyes._

_Raph groaned and clutched the katana that had remained in his side. He hand was now covered in blood and it began to drip onto the ground by his feet._

_Donatello had finally recovered from his shock and ran to his brother._

"_D-Donnie?" Raph looked up questioningly. _

"_You're gonna be okay, Raph." Donnie responded before grabbing Raphael._

"_Mikey, I need you to give me your mask, yours too, Leo." he ordered while removing his own. "We need to stop the bleeding."_

_Both brothers complied, handing them to the formerly purple masked turtle._

_Donatello gently laid his brother on the ground. "Raph, I am going to pull the sword out and it is going to hurt." He told his brother softly._

_Raph merely groaned and nodded in response. _

_Mikey knelt beside his brother and grabbed his hand. Leo gently lifted Raph's head and placed it in his lap._

_Donatello took a deep breath before gripping the handle of the sword that had been plunged into his brother's side._

_He exhaled and swiftly drew it out._

_Raph's pained scream rang out into the night as he held Mikey's hand in a death grip. _

"_I am so sorry, Raph." Donatello said with tears brimming in his chocolate colored eyes._

_He slowly placed his brother's masks on the gaping hole in Raph's plastron and watched as blue, purple, and orange cloth turned crimson. _

_Raph moaned in pain and his breathing became shallow._

"_Hang in there, Raph," Leo crooned." I've got you."_

"_L-Leo?" Raph opened his green eyes and Leo gazed into them and saw the pain his brother was in._

"_I am here, Raph."_

"_I-I gotta tell ya somethin' ..."_

"_Save your strength, Raph."_

"_No, Leonardo. I h-have to say this."_

_Leo started at the use of his full name._

"_I know I haven't been the best brother," Raph continued, gasping with the effort. "I want you know I am s-sorry, Leo."_

"_Don't say that, Raph!" Leo shouted as tears began to run down his face._

_Raph smiled up at his older brother "I love you, bro."_

_Mikey clutched Raph's hand and silently cried. Raph turned to his youngest brother. "I love you too, shell-head." _

"_No Raph! Stop!" Mikey cried, tears streaming down his freckled face._

"_It's okay, Mikey." Raph said reaching up his free hand to touch his face. "It's okay."_

_Donatello watched in horror as the wound in his brother's side bled profusely and the realization that he could do nothing about it hit him. _

_Raph began to shiver and a thin trail of blood ran from the side of his mouth. Donnie moved into his brother's line of sight._

"_This is all my fault! If I had been paying attention-" He sputtered to a stop as Raph gripped his bicep._

"_S-Stop it, D-Donnie!" He cried, hissing in pain. "Th-this was my choice."_

_Donnie sobbed as he grabbed his brother._

_Raph gasped as pain shot though his entire body setting it on fire. He could not remember a time when he had felt pain like this. His whole body spasmed as he groaned it pain. It hurt like shell._

"_L-Leo..it hurts.."_

"_It's okay, I've got you Raph." Leo squeezed Raph's shoulder affectionately as tears ran down his face._

_Raph smiled and his eyes gleamed suddenly with a new light._

"_Take care of the city, when I am gone or I am gonna come back and kick your sorry shells." He said with a wry grin._

"_What are you talking about, Raph? You're not going anywhere. I won't let you!" Donnie cried. "I will get you fixed up and you'll be fine."_

_Raph gazed up painfully at his brainiac brother. "N-no. N-not this time, Donatello." He reached up and touched his face._

_Raph's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body suddenly stiffened._

"_RAPH!" Donnie screamed in orror._

_Raphael's defiant green eyes slipped closed and his hand fell._

_The red-masked turtle was no more._

_i_**A/N: Should I end it here or continue? PM me with your votes!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's chapter 2. Not sure how happy I am with it, but go easy on me, I've never written a long story before! *grabs Leonardo and hides behind him* I have a ninja turtle and I know how to use him! **

**Don't own any TMNT, but a girl can dream...;)**

**Jagged**

Donnie's mind returned to the present with a start.

He was standing in his lab back at the lair. He gazed down at his hands; he was at a loss of what to do.

He had failed to save his big brother. He felt his eyes burn with tears and his vision became blurred. Raphael was gone and in his logical mind Donnie knew hem could never bring him back.

_I was supposed to be the one, _Donnie thought in agony. _Not Raph! _

"He wasn't supposed to die!" the purple masked turtle cried out in rage.

"It was supposed to be me!" he screamed as he overturned his desk causing a loud crash to echo through the eerily quiet lair.

Leonardo, who had been meditating in the dojo, heard Donnie's screams followed by a loud crash and quickly ran to his brother's lab.

He gasped at the sight now before him. Donnie was in the midst of tearing apart his lab with tears streaming down his face.

Leo rushed forward and seized his brother's arms before he could wreak further havoc upon his prized computer.

"Donnie stop!" he shouted.

Donnie turned his gaze on Leo, eyes full of immense pain.

"It was supposed to be me, not Raph!" He shouted, struggling in Leonardo's grasp.

"That katana stroke was aimed at me! Why did he have to jump in front of it! Why did he have to be the hero!" Donnie cried, angrily.

Leonardo turned Donnie to face him. Calm blue eyes met watery, hurt brown ones.

"I know Donnie. I know."Leo responded as he felt his own eyes feel with tears. "I miss him too. It won't be the same but we'll make it."

The two turtles knelt in the lab, holding on to each other as their hearts broke. That katana had left a jagged hole in the hearts of the remaining turtles, one that could only heal with time.

They would not be the same, but they would endure.


	3. Chapter 3

To all my readers, (if I still have any):

I am in the process of completing the next chapter for this story and I want you to know that i have every intention of finishing it even though the deadline has long since passed.

So stay tuned, because I am not nearly finished writing! Get ready for a weird and wild ride1

Adriene out!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:Here is chapter three. Hope it isn't too bad.**

**Don't own any TMNT, if I did I was hoping someone would have told me by now. ;)**

**Lock**

_He can't be gone._

Mikey had told himself this in his mind so many times it had become a prayer. It had been a month since the death of the red-masked turtle and it still hurt like it had been yesterday.

The three remaining turtles carried on as best as they could: Raphael's death had made them realize how important they were to one another and it had brought them closer together. But without their strongest brother, they were even more wary on their nightly patrols of the city's rooftops.

Mikey sighed. He was standing in his brother's old room, still lost in thought. Memories of all the times he had playfully jibbed at his brother's hot temper flooded through him. All the pranks he had pulled, that always ended with him receiving a smack on the head from Raph. All the times that Raph had watched his back in a fight.

Mikey smiled. Sometimes he had hated being the youngest, especially when his brothers would keep a close eye on him.

He knew Raph was gone and he would never come back, but he also knew that despite everything he had done, Raphael had loved him.

"I'm gonna miss ya, bro," Michelangelo spoke to the empty room. "but I am gonna do my best to make you proud. Goodbye! See ya later, Raphie!"

Michelangelo looked around the room with tears in his eyes and a gentle smile on his face. The room was just how Raph had left it. His red hammock hanging on one side, Raph had never liked the feel of a bed. "Too hard," he would say in his rough voice. His well-worn punching bag in the corner, evidence of the many times he had taken his temper out on it in an effort to calm down. The floor was littered with soda cans, pizza boxes and comic books.

Mikey didn't know how long he stood there, but he knew it would never be long enough. He breathed deeply in the scent of his brother's messy room before backing out into the hallway. He quietly closed the door and locked it leaving the room just as it was. It would remain that way as a small memorial to a brave ninja turtle who would be missed by those who loved him.

Michelangelo turned and walked back toward the living room, he still had two brothers and he knew that they needed each other. Hamato Raphael would not be forgotten but, if Mikey had anything to say about it, would live on in the minds and hearts of his family.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: And here's the next chapter. I apologize if it is a little dry. I am just getting back into the swing of things.**

**Don't own any TMNT, just borrowing hope they don't mind. ;)**

**Buckle**

"Keeyah!"

Leonardo's fierce yell echoed through the empty dojo. He attacked his opponent with all he had: two thrusts with his katanas before he back-flipped to the other end of the room.

He gazed at the dummy, narrowing his dark blue eyes. He needed to be stronger, faster, more agile. He had to train more.

Leo looked up at the clock, he had been in here for 5 hours. He wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his hand. He tightened his grip on his katana, a look of determination on his green face.

Leonardo was their leader and he could not afford to be weak. He would not lose another brother. With a savage battle cry, he continued his attack on the training dummy with a new ferocity.

Michelangelo walked into the turtle's lair whistling a tune that he had heard on the radio one time.

"Honey, I'm home!" He called loudly with a impish grin on his face. His call was met with only silence.

Mikey frowned and went off in search of his brothers. He had not gotten far when the sounds of fighting reached his ears. He followed them to their source and found his oldest brother tearing apart a training dummy. Mikey gazed at the sight in front of him. Leo was breathing heavily, his body covered in sweat. He saw the dark circles under his eyes and knew that it had been a long time since the blue masked turtle had slept.

"Leo!" Mikey called.

Leonardo turned to face him, his hands shaking with exhaustion. He suddenly felt light-headed and his vision became blurry. He saw Mikey run toward him and he took a step forward and felt his knees buckle.

Michelangelo saw Leo stumble and reached out and caught him before he hit the ground. Leo felt himself gently lowered to the floor and he looked up into two concerned light blue eyes.

"You're pushing yourself too hard, bro." Mikey chided him.

Leo struggled to get up. "H-have to train. Have to b-be stronger."

Mikey gripped his shoulders firmly. "No, Leo. You need rest."

Leo struggled feebly for a few more seconds before resigned himself to defeat. He was exhausted. A few hours rest, then back to training.

He was their leader and he would protect his brothers. He had already lost one brother and he would not lose another, this he vowed.

A new fire lit up the eyes of the blue-masked turtle and beware anyone who stood in his way.


End file.
